So there's a big sale on Persona, Persona 2 and Persona 3 portable going on PSN right now for the PSP/Vita. I've missed out on this franchise during the PS2 era and would like to get in as I've heard a lot of good things. I wanted to know which Persona is the best to jump into though. I've heard that prior to P3 those games were grindy as fuck and unfortunately I don't have a lot of time to simply grind my way through a game.

Looking at the prices right now:
Persona 1: 5 euro
Persona 2 and 3: 25 euro
and I can also find P4 Golden online for about 25 euro.

I can only really spend 25-30 euro at most. So GAF with which game to start?

If you dont like grindy?
Skip right ahead to 3 and then 4, no relation to 1/2 IIRC. 3 and 4 are canon to each other (same world, connected moreso in p4arena)

*i havent played 2
And i didnt like 1. Its very awkward nowadays. And whoever hurts the most gets the most xp
So if person1 is strong against most enemies in a dungeon, he'll be way higher than the "useless for the moment" guy in the dungeon, leaving an awkward space
I beat p1 with 2 characters way overpowered and 3 very underpowered. Prob just me

I say start with 3 so you can appreciate 4 once you get into it all the more. The latter is the best in the series if you ask me, but 3 still feels like it went against a lot of conventions in the JRPG genre for it's time which makes it pretty interesting.

That and, mechanically, 4 changes certain things quite a lot. 3 is the basic and most purest form of it.

Start with Persona 3. Starting with Persona 4 just ain't fair to Persona 3 which will probably feel like a letdown after playing the superior one first. Persona 3 is however totally awesome in it's own right.

Personally I'm really fond of P2:EP, but I guess it depends on what you're after. P2 is a more traditional JRPG in many ways while P3 and P4 are focused on the social sim. and random-generated dungeouns.

If you dont like grindy?
Skip right ahead to 3 and then 4, no relation to 1/2 IIRC. 3 and 4 are canon to each other (same world, connected moreso in p4arena)

*i havent played 2
And i didnt like 1. Its very awkward nowadays. And whoever hurts the most gets the most xp
So if person1 is strong against most enemies in a dungeon, he'll be way higher than the "useless for the moment" guy in the dungeon, leaving an awkward space
I beat p1 with 2 characters way overpowered and 3 very underpowered. Prob just me

All 4/5 are connected, but the 1/2 connections to 3/4 are more subtle. P4 Arena sort of made them all connect due to circumstances in that game.

So there's a big sale on Persona, Persona 2 and Persona 3 portable going on PSN right now for the PSP/Vita. I've missed out on this franchise during the PS2 era and would like to get in as I've heard a lot of good things. I wanted to know which Persona is the best to jump into though. I've heard that prior to P3 those games were grindy as fuck and unfortunately I don't have a lot of time to simply grind my way through a game.

Looking at the prices right now:
Persona 1: 5 euro
Persona 2 and 3: 25 euro
and I can also find P4 Golden online for about 25 euro.

I can only really spend 25-30 euro at most. So GAF with which game to start?

The "Persona" experience that has had decent success isn't really found in Persona 1 or either of the Persona 2 games. They are much more like mainline SMT games (basically relatively pure dungeon crawlers).

I'd probably give the edge to Golden. Persona 3 Portable gives you more bang for the buck , since there's some decent differences between the stories for MC and FemC in P3P, but its missing some of the stuff found in the PS2 versions , some of the animated cutscenes are missing and the Answer from the FES version is also gone (but if grinding with little story isn't you thing this probably won't bother you much).

Golden has everything found in the PS2 version of Persona 4 and some extras, so its a much more definitive experience.

If you dont like grindy?
Skip right ahead to 3 and then 4, no relation to 1/2 IIRC. 3 and 4 are canon to each other (same world, connected moreso in p4arena)

*i havent played 2
And i didnt like 1. Its very awkward nowadays. And whoever hurts the most gets the most xp
So if person1 is strong against most enemies in a dungeon, he'll be way higher than the "useless for the moment" guy in the dungeon, leaving an awkward space
I beat p1 with 2 characters way overpowered and 3 very underpowered. Prob just me

How much canon is there between 3 and 4. Like if I play 4 first would it spoil much of 3 for me?

Originally Posted by Law Abiding Stranger

Forget about Persona 1, the story is non-existent and the combat is plain boring, game didn't age well.

Persona 2 has a good story if you play both Innocent Sin and Eternal Punishment and the combat is okay, although also feels a bit dated.

Persona 3 and Persona 4 are up to you.
If you prefer darker tone, then Persona 3.
If not, go all for Persona 4.

I think only Innocent Sin is up for the Vita. Is it better than Eternal Punishment?

I kind of disagree with you here. I played the PSP version of Persona 1 , and its a solid game, if you're the sort of person, like me, who enjoys things like FFIV/V/VI Advance or the Dawn of Souls / PSP rereleases of FF / FFII or other retro (style) RPG games.

They really aren't what people are talking about when they say "Persona" though, so I pretty much agree, that 1 and 2 shouldn't really be used to see what you think of that experience.

The PS1 version is okay though. The translation is alright, and the only other differences are the names of characters.

Yeah, that's how we ended up getting the PS1 version released on PSN at this ridiculously late date, they apparently tried to get the PSP version through but for some reason they can't talk about it didn't happen, so it was the best way to get the full game available.

So there's a big sale on Persona, Persona 2 and Persona 3 portable going on PSN right now for the PSP/Vita. I've missed out on this franchise during the PS2 era and would like to get in as I've heard a lot of good things. I wanted to know which Persona is the best to jump into though. I've heard that prior to P3 those games were grindy as fuck and unfortunately I don't have a lot of time to simply grind my way through a game.

Looking at the prices right now:
Persona 1: 5 euro
Persona 2 and 3: 25 euro
and I can also find P4 Golden online for about 25 euro.

I can only really spend 25-30 euro at most. So GAF with which game to start?

I kind of disagree with you here. I played the PSP version of Persona 1 , and its a solid game, if you're the sort of person, like me, who enjoys things like FFIV/V/VI Advance or the Dawn of Souls / PSP rereleases of FF / FFII or other retro (style) RPG games.

I found that Persona 1 has actually aged worse than most of the games you listed. The clunky battle system didn't help matters, especially when there is a really high encounter rate. There are a lot of great ideas in that game, but for me it became hard to appreciate them with the rest of the game.